Fallen Equestria Shattered Silence
by EndlessNightmare
Summary: The time has come, and Chrysalis has made her stand against Equestria as a whole. On the brink of extinction and fueled by rage, Celestia uses an unlikely weapon, with an unlikely hero to save her kingdom from absolute destruction. The cost? More than she could have predicted. The story starts out with the fallout, then Luna recants what truly happened...
1. Chapter 1

Fallen Equestria; Shattered Silence

Written by Endless Nightmares

Chapter 1; The Arrival

Dawn arose over Equestria, as Celestia raised the beloved sun for her ponies as per usual. Today for Equestria, all of ponydom knew that this blessed day where the survivors were lucky enough to see the coming dawn; today would be a day of mourning. Celestia sighed sorrowfully, as she looked upon her kingdom. Buildings lay to waste, smoldering and burning yet still from the countless battles in Canterlot, some dead still buried under rubble, ash and stone. The dawn had arose once again thankfully because those who fought to protect the freedom and the lives of all of ponydom as a whole, against an enemy that knew know mercy. The changelings had struck once more, though this had proven to be their very final battle. Celestia knew now; their life force had been extinguished once and for all from this planet. She strode about the balcony looking down and surveying the damage, when her eyes fell upon her sister below. It was this truly heart wrenching sight, that made even Celestias heart break. Her sister lay crying in the courtyard, over wreckage of a once powerful flying machine, and its pilot who died to end this war.

Celestia turned slowly away from the sight before she too would break down, and walked slowly into her chambers. Her wings hung limp at her sides, one dragging on the ground beside her as she walked. Her mane and tail were also limp and hanging solemnly, not vibrant and beautiful; caught in the perpetual solar breeze, but the colors muted and solemn. She used her magic to levitate a quill, and opened her journal once more to write in it, recounting the events of the night. Many of her ponies died this night. One small developing city laid to ruin by the detonation of a device that the visitor had brought. The land she knew, would be unusable for several of her subjects lifetimes, due to the effects of the blast. But this was the price she had to pay to end this bloody conflict, and to finally eradicate the threat that was encroaching upon her very kingdom. She herself made the decision, though difficult. Knowing that evacuation of the city would only alert the enemy of her next final, and decisive move to swiftly end the war. The alicorn knew full well what she had done, sending innocents to their deaths, costing the sanity of her sister, destroying the lives of two of her very beloved elements of harmony, and nearly ending the life of her most precious love, Twilight Sparkle.

'It is history who decides who the true victor is, and who truly lost the conflicts of life. It was by my hoof that I ordered the end of this, but the cost I fear was much too great. I know in my infinite years I will look upon this entry and ask if I was truly left with no other choice. Was I truthfully justified in my actions in using a weapon from a foreign land, and slaughtering an entire species to selfishly preserve my own? Mother created all life on this planet, shaped and molded the very landscape in which ponydom thrives upon and lives by. But it was my own decision to extinguish the enemy, it was by my decision to make the call and end this. With the options that were in hoof, it seemed the only logical and acceptable choice. I pray that my ponies and my sister can one day forgive my crimes on this day, for the genocide I have committed.'

Celestia had set her quill down and closed the journal, closing her eyes and sighed deeply. She then rang a bell and summoned a palace maid. It was only moments before one arrived, opening the door slowly. "You called, princess..?" The small blue haired earth pony asked. "Yes, Dusty Shine. Please inform the palace steward I will be in the infirmary for the day tending to the element bearers, as well as my sister. Day Court is to be closed until further notice." The earth pony nodded and closed the door after exiting Celestias chambers. Celestia could hear her hoof steps trot slowly down the hallway. Celestia put a hoof to her temple and rubbed, trying to fight away the perpetual migraine she has had since a week ago, when this decision had first come to light as a possible, practical solution to ending the conflict. Adjusting her regalia, the sun princess exited her chambers and headed to the infirmary wing of the palace, to check on the element bearers.

Upon arriving, she quietly walked into the room that the 4 filled beds. Before her lay her friends that had fought so bravely in the final moments of the battle, in the defense of Canterlot. They had been there in the room recovering for three days now, what had prompted Celestia to use such extreme measures. To her left, Rainbow Dash; the element of Loyalty laid sleeping peacefully. Likely due to he heavy dose of medication administered to her. Both of her wings were broken, and one badly burned from the flash of light she tried to shield herself from. Next to her in the furthermost point bed was Fluttershy; The element of Kindness, with bandages over one of her eyes, a broken hoof and bandages around her mid section likely due to broken ribs. To her right were Applejack; The element of Honesty lay with a careful rapping of bandages over one of her appendages. Celestia knew Applejack would never be the same, and likely her life as she knew it was over. A stray beam of unicorn magic had accidently hit her in a friendly fire skirmish, blowing off the appendage at the top of the knee, leaving only a seared and bleeding stump. Celestia made a mental note that applejacks farm is to be state funded for eternity, once she gets the treasury back up and going. In the final bed lay the worst of the 4, Rarity; The element of Generosity. Rarity in an attempt to save her dear friends from a burning and collapsing building, was trapped and pinned under a burning support beam. Most of her back and neck were burned by the fallen object, but the worst was to her chest and face. A changeling had taken this chance to attack her while she was pinned, clawing and biting at her. Rarity beautiful face was forever scarred, her once flawless coat on her chest also now ruined due to the slashing from the foul creature. Celestia knew that no amount of magic could heal these injuries, and would likely end the fashionistas career. She also made a note that Rarity was to be given exclusive designer rights to the palace and nobility, to ensure that some stability would return to her friends life.

In the next room over hooked upto several machines, ranging from simple monitors to a life support machine, lay her precious beloved; Twilight Sparkle. Now missing a wing, two broken legs and forever blind in one eye from her final showdown and loss against Chrysalis. Twilight had fought tooth and hoof against the demon to protect Celestia as the monster came for her. It was because of her own fear of the demon, remembering the events of the royal wedding between Shining Armor and Cadence years prior that had taken hold of her, and stayed her hoof in doing what she should have done; which was crushing that bug under her alicorn Goddess hoof. It was Twilight that had intervened and protected her lover and mentor when the monster had come, Twilight who had fought with all of her strength and managed to wound Chrysalis enough to force a retreat. Celestia finally snapping out of it and seeing the state her lover was in, is what drove her to the rage fuled decision. Celestia sat on her haunches next to Twilights bedside, gently stroking her hoof through the younger alicorns mane. Tears begun to fall freely from the aged alicorn princess, as she laid her head upon the sleeping form of Twilight Sparkle and wept. The nurses and the guards nearby couldn't help but to weep themselves, hearing such a heart rending cry of sorrow. For they all knew the princess was in more pain than they could ever fathom. Not one of them, even with knowing the decision she made had blamed her however. Given the same choice...they too all agreed that they would have made the same move.

Princess Luna lay outside, amongst the wreckage, weeping softly and alone. Those nearby knew better than to disturb the midnight blue alicorn now, for she was already on the edge of her sanity. The cool morning air was filled with the heavy scent of burning fuel, smoke and the sounds of the princesses grief stricken sobs. The one she had grown so close to in such a short time after his arrival lay dead in this wreckage, perishing in the crash when his ejection system failed and malfunctioned. This being from another existence was their savior for all intents and purposes, and also the butcher that had dealt the final blow to the changeling race. The wreckage had covered the vast expanse of the courtyard and gardens, strewn about when he had fatally crashed here in an attempt to land once the engines of his craft had flamed out. The shockwave from the detonation had knocked him from the sky, sending him on the collision course with Canterlot castle. It was his final sacrifice to force the aircraft to the gardens, narrowly missing the hospital ward of the castle and instead sending him into the mountain side. She lay there with labored breaths, sobs wracking her body and tears flowing freely, screaming between breaths how she failed him. She tried however, oh did she try. Her magic was too badly drained fighting off hoards of the insect like creatures and protecting her subjects, she couldn't maintain her grip on the aircraft like she did that night it arrived and narrowly crashed into her very room.

"Princess Luna?" One of her few remaining Lunar Stallions called to her some steps away, just out of the alicorns swinging range. "Princess..please retire to your quarters...we will clean up the wrecka.." He's abruptly cut off when she cranes her neck and turns to him, her draconic eyes showing through. "THOU WILL TOUCH NOTHING OF THIS MACHINE! NOPONY SHALL, FOR PAIN OF DEATH AWAITS THEM!" She shouts in the Royal Canterlot Voice. Her rage fuming so much, that even her coat seems to darken and the air becomes cold as ice. The stallion stumbled backwards and landed hard on his flank, scooting away quickly from her to put distance between them. "Un-Understood princess!" The guard quickly got up and galloped away from her, leaving the princess to mourn in silence again. She returns her gaze to the wreckage, ire dancing in her eyes as she looks upon a wing in front of her on fire. She focuses on the markings on the wing, burning away due to the flames approaching them. 'VF-114 ENTERPRISE' She lets out a pained scream into the air, one of mourning and sorrow. 'We...I shalt remember thee..Talon. You shalt be honored for life eternal...I shalt see to it..' She says quietly in her breath. Using her magic that she has remaining, she alights her horn and begins quenching the flames, rising to her hooves as she does so. Those looking upon her note one complete wing is burned, the feathers blackened and devastated. Her horn shows cracks in it, and her armor and regalia is broken in areas; revealing deep wounds and blood trickling from them. She has a deep laceration from her withers to her belly, a very deep gash on her right foreleg and a deep slice from the top of her left eye to the bottom right of her muzzle. Her coat is dirty, matted with blood and dirt. After the last of the flames are put out, she takes a seat on her haunches next to the remains of the fuselage, and then lays next to it. Her energy is drained, her body and mind weary. She has not slept or ate in days. The night princess closes her eyes and breathes deep the scent of fuel and smoke, succumbing to her bodies need for rest. There she falls into a deep coma like sleep, tears still trickling down her muzzle as she cries herself to sleep.

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In Lunas dream, she replays the memory of weeks prior, where she had first met the pilot who changed her life and saved her kind. It was due to a spell gone completely arry, that led to this fateful night. Here, my dear reader is where the story begins...

He awakens with a start, hearing the buzzing alarm going off from everywhere inside the ship, his quarters included. The alarm is for the Alert 5 pilots. A ship wide emergency has occurred, and he knows it's time to report to the briefing room. "All personnel, this is not a drill. Deep strike fighters report to the briefing room on the double. This is not a drill!" The captains voice is heard over the intercom. Talon gets off of the rack and starts putting on his clothes and flight suit, taking only a moment to check his appearance before opening the bulkhead door and stepping out into the corridor. He rushes to the room a deck above him, and takes a seat out of breath next to his fellow squadron pilots. Their commander is standing before them in uniform, pointing at a map and chart already on display in the front of the room on the wall. "Gentlemen, we have our orders from the president directly. We are to initiate a tactical nuclear strike upon our designated targets. This could be the end of the war, everyone. For years we've chased these terrorists, and for years the bastards have managed to hide. But after they launched chemical weapons against civilian cities on our land, we have our go ahead to right the wrongs. Here are your targets. Two planes per group will be carrying two Trident II SLBM nuclear weapons. At least one aircraft must make it to each target." Talon looked around at his other squadron members who were shaking their heads with worry and sadness. Like him, no one wished it would have come to this. He knew that with but the press of a single button he would end the lives of countless innocents, just to knock off a few terrorists. This just didn't sit right with him..but he knew he must follow orders. After all...these were the same terrorists that had murdered his own family and friends on that fateful day when the towers fell. That day when all he held dear; his wife and daughter were taken from him. The day he enlisted in the service. This wasn't how he envisioned revenge. No...revenge was ending the one responsible for the atrocity, not slaughtering innocents to get to them. This seemed too impersonal, too quick. "Very well then. Dismissed!" He was snapped away from his thoughts when he heard the commander end the briefing, and got out of his seat. He collected the folder to glance at his target objective. One military installation in the middle of the desert, far away from civilian casualties. This is what he wanted. With that he turned on his heels, and proceeded to the hanger bay to get in his bird.

"Talon!" Shouted one of his squadron mates. "Looks like we're flying to the same hot point mate." Talon turned his head to nod, and sighed. "Glad you're on my wing then Wizard. Stay frosty up there. I'd like to come home in one piece after this is over." His wingman smiled and slapped him on the back. "Too right mate. Lets go give these pups a solid one-two and be back in time for a Barbie." The pilot rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Ya know Wiz.. no matter how long I know you or work with you...I never know half of what you're saying man." The two laugh, and race off to their respective birds.

On the flight deck, steam wafts from the catapults after sending more and more aircraft up. The pilot taxied his F/A-37 off of the elevator and onto the deck. One of the very few in service, and the only one onboard the carrier he was deployed on. U.S.S. ENTERPRISE CVN-65. This is the final deployment of this carrier, before being retired and replaced by its newer, bigger successor next year. As luck had it, the pilot managed to get assigned to the same squadron his father before him was in, the famous VF-114. This was also his final year in the Navy, before he had the choice of extending his duty or getting out after 6 years of service. Talon was one of the best pilots from the start of his service, having experience growing up in an aviation family. His father before him flown the F-14, now it was fitting he would fly the next generation aircraft that also gave him his call sign. Watching from the canopy, he seen the hand signals and heard the call over the radio. "Talon-One, you are cleared to proceed to launch area two. Clear the elevator immediately and standby on catapult for clearance." The pilot looked out upon the deck, watching for people as his bird taxied slowly to its place. It's the early dawn hours, the sun just coming up over the horizon. Smoke and steam from engines and flight deck operations fills the air, people run around on deck to their stations as the aircraft comes to a stop in its place. Behind him he can hear the faint sound of the blast shield coming up behind the rear of the aircraft. He grabs the throttle control and idles up the engines to 30% power, hearing them hum to life and skree. 'CLICK!' The blast shield slides into its final place. He gives a thumbs up to the crew around, showing he's ready for flight. Over the radio the command sounds. "Cleared for takeoff Talon One, proceed to full power. Burners free." The pilot instinctively throttles up the engines to full power, the skree of the engines loud and screaming all around him. The after burners of his engines ignight and throw out twin massive jet flames behind him against the blast shield. He watches for the hand signals. Three- The engines are powered up. Two- the afterburners are lit. One- the jet shoots off of the deck and into the sky, free from its shackles. The aircraft climbs quickly with both engines in full burner, allowing for his quick ascent into the sky. Under a minute later, his wingman is in the air chasing after him. "Proceed to your targets, altitude restrictions canceled. Good hunting!" He presses his com button. "Wilco command, Talon one will prosecute." "Wizard Oh-Seven here, Rodger that mates."

Half an hour passes, uneventful as the aircraft approach their targets. The two are alone, flying through clouds as visual cover. "Hey Talon, I'm getting strange readings on my radar, can you confirm?" The pilot looks down at his panels, watching some ftzzt and scramble in front of him, while some analog instrumentation gives strange signals. His compass for example, begins spinning wildly. "Oi mate, you there?" Silence. Wizard looks over to his right and searches for his wingman, spotting the black switchblade aircraft seeming to have some trouble flying. It's rocking back and forth, as if the wind is knocking it around. "If you can hear me I'm getting out of these clouds mate, you should do the sa-" He's cut off when his own F-18 violently pitches downward, then rocks. They're caught in a freak storm neither had seen coming. Wizard pulls the stick back, bringing his dated F-18 into a steep climb, the F-37 falling out of view.

Inside the cockpit of the F/A-37, sirens are going off, the bird is jolting side to side and the flight is rough. All of the equipment is starting to malfunction. "Alert Alert- Port Canard Malfunction. Radar Offline" The computer begins to call. Talon presses his com piece. "Mayday mayday, this is Talon one, my aircraft is malfunctioning! Coordinates are 11.15N 35.03E Enterprise do you read?!" Another violent shudder, and the aircraft begins to pitch hard to the right, as if it's being pulled. All of his instrumentation blanks out and static is heard over the radio. The plane begins to plummet hard and fast, spiraling out of control. Talon fruitlessly pulls against the flight stick, trying to right the plane and restart the now quiet engines. Looking out the canopy, the sky gets darker and darker around him, as he falls to the sea waiting below. A bolt of lightning strikes his starboard wing, twisting the plane onto its back and throwing it further offcourse. A bright flash of light moments later, the aircraft disappears into the fog below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now if you look here, Mrs Sparkle, you see clearly how to begin a portal spell." Princess Luna patiently points to a large drawing in a tome she had in her personal quarters. It was Twilights night for magic lessons with the night alicorn, as requested by princess Celestia. It's been two years since Twilight had become an alicorn and moved to Canterlot palace. Two years since she finally worked up the courage to tell Celestia how she felt all this time, and learning only that her wonderful mentor had felt the same the whole time as well. As a way to help with bonding, Celestia had asked Twilight to take on magic lessons from her dear sister, as Luna was always the better one with various magics. Twilight looked over the complex spell and nodded at her teacher. "So by simply casting one of these...portals, I can travel to anywhere I want in Equestria in the blink of an eye?" Twilight asked quietly, while studying the spell. "Why yes, thou may do so, as a means to visit Ponyville anytime, or thou doth use it to travel quickly to any point thy wishes. Distance holds no meaning with this spell, fair Twilight." Luna casually replied. "Though, understand you must know where you wish to open the other end at. If you open one without a destination, thou may go to an unexpected place, or possibly even another dimension! You could even perhaps open a rift to Discords fridge if thou isn't careful whilst opening such!" Luna grinned mischievously. Twilight shifted nervously on her cushion, and nodded. The clock then chimed behind her. '9:00 finally...saved by the bell.' Twilight thought to herself. "Harumph...dismissed. We shall continue our lessons next week then." Luna turned around and cantered to the balcony, while Twilight got up and stretched, then exited the room. Off to Celestias chambers she went, to report of the new spell she was learning.

Luna sighed inwardly. Though she didn't show it to anypony, the truth was she hated giving these boring lessons. The first year it was fun, and quite endearing to watch the young alicorn want to learn so much. But as time passed, this quickly became more of a formality on her elder sisters behalf, rather than one she enjoyed. Luna knew this was really just Tias was of forcing her to make a friend, when she'd much rather be back to quietly working on learning more of Equestrians history that she missed during her banishment. Luna looked at the spell in the tome and rolled her eyes, shaking her head at the crude and seemingly false warning she gave to Twilight. "Feh...Discords fridge indeed...if that was the case, I'd have better hard cider than what is in the palace." She said out loud to nopony. Just as a joke, she reviewed the spell to test this idea, and tried to clear her mind with no destination in mind what so ever for the portal. Concentrating hard on nothing, she focused all of her magic to her horn and opened a portal just off of her balcony a little ways. The swirling dark cloud formed, as per usual. The lightning bolts jumped off of the edges, as per usual. But the portal itself was black in the center...this wasn't usual. Luna peered at it carefully, and tilted her head, hearing a faint whistling sound coming from its center. "What in Faust name is..." She hears the sound growing louder and louder, turning from a soft but high pitched whistle to a loud screeching sound. 'SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE' Suddenly out of the portal, a black, long tri-angle shape appeared slowly out of the center. Electricity jumped off of its frame and visage, as the nose part of it poked its way out slowly at first, but suddenly faster and faster. Before Luna could react and close the portal however, the object shot out and plummeted from the sky, with twin pillars of fire coming from behind it. Heading straight for her. She squeezed her eyes shut, dove for the floor and cast what she thought was a shield!

Quiet. Luna opened one eye and looked up, her rump in the air shaking like a leaf, her fore hooves over her head and her horn glowing. She caught the object mear inches from her. The nose of the object hovered right in front of her muzzle, as the object at least 10 times her size hovered quietly before her. She opened both eyes now and stared wide eyed at it now, hearing the roaring skree die down to a quiet whine and whisper. With a flick of her magic, she closed the portal and held the object, much to large to set on her balcony. Moving slowly and taking to the air, she bounds off of the edge and flaps her wings, hovering above the object while it rests in the air with her magic. Looking it over she begins to probe it with her magic. 'It's hard...almost as if made of stone...yet its hollow...I can sense something within it!' Luna thought. In the distance, she could hear the palace guards rushing to the area. 'Better set this down...' Luna begins to descend to the ground, when something inside catches her attention. A shiny black..thing. Inside. She dosen't know what it is, just that it isn't moving. She probes the contraption more, and shakes it a little, to rattle whatever is in the glass loose. This proved to be a mistake however, as it only knocked whatever it was inside against the glass now. 'CLINK!' The objects dome piece smacks hard against the glass, very hard. Carefully now, the princess sets the rather large and strange contraption down in the grass. She steps back slowly, looking carefully upon it. Several of her Lunar Stallions swoop down and surround the object. "Princess! Are you harmed?!" One of the stallions -demanded- as he asked. This only made the princess huff and roll her eyes. "Neigh, it will take a hundred more of these to scare us." She waved a hoof dismissively. The guard and the night alicorn looked upon the mysterious object and began to approach it slowly.

He opened his eyes slowly, returning to conscientiousness. It's dark, and his aircraft isn't in the sky anymore. Without moving much he tries to survey his surroundings, noting the aircraft is offline, and still. 'Am I dead...?' He asks himself. Hearing noises muffled outside of the cockpit, he raises his head and looks around through his visor. He sees...horses? This causes him to jolt back in his seat with surprise, looking at them. These aren't normal horses though like back on the farm or in story books. These have...horns...and wings?! The pilot is taken aback as a tall blue one approaches the canopy and peers inside with a rather sinister look in its eyes. Talon reaches for his sidearm and puts his finger on the trigger. The animals before him seem to be...communicating? Now he is convinced he's dreaming. Horses don't talk. They whinny and neigh. They grunt and make that pbbbbt sound. They don't talk! "I must be dead." He said out loud, causing the animals to jump back in surprise. Suddenly his canopy flips open quickly and he's yanked from the cockpit, struggling against some kind of blue force! It relentlessly holds him in the air, he's unable to move his gun or even pull the trigger now. The animal speaks something out loud, but he can't understand the sounds.

"Creature, what are thou?! Where doth thou hail from?!" The dark alicorn speaks loudly, but slow, her voice trembling a bit. The lunar stallion points a spear at the new creature threatening it with the sharp tip held close to his midsection. Luna repeats again, more slowly this time. "What are thou? What isn't thy intent here?!" The creature is only held in the air, unmoving. She can't see its face- if it has one. It's wearing some kind of black fabric with markings she's never seen before. Its appendages are small, two lower ones look like ill-formed hooves, the two middle ones look like dragon claws minus the talons, and it seems to have some kind of a small round dome on its shoulders, with a shiny black cover on it. There's even a long thick rope coming from its mouth. This..thing both terrified and intrigued her! 'Thump!' A black object dropped from one of its limbs, it appeared to be a pipe with a handle of some sort on it. One of the lunar stallions leaned down and sniffed it, before nudging it with a hoof. 'BANG!' The object discharged a loud pop, and a flash of light! Suddenly one of the flower pots next to the princess explodes and shattered, causing every pony to yelp in alarm! Princess Luna dropped the creature in her surprise, and it fell to the ground.

The pilot scrambled to his feet and collects the gun, pointing it right at the tall ones head. "Back off there silver, or I'll make this fire again!" The pilot motions threateningly towards the princess, and the guards flanking her seem to back away slowly. Luna looks wide eyed at the pistol with terror, staring straight down the barrel. When he's content the horse won't move again, he begins backing up slowly to get back to the plane. He looks to the side at it. The landing gear is up still, the plane is offline and he has nowhere near enough room to take off. Getting out of here with the plane isn't possible. As he turns his focus to the blue horse again, he feels his arm lock up as a golden light engulfs it, then his whole body. More noise, but this time softer and seemingly friendlier.

"My my little sister, you have the strangest taste in partys." Celestia chuckles lightly, holding the creature captive in the air as she looks at the object resting in her garden. "What do we have here..?" Celestia blinks, somewhat confused. She hears noise coming from the creature, causing her to look up. 'Nah-me-ooh!' 'It sounds angry..' Celestia thinks to herself. Twilight walks beside Celestia and tilts her head, looking carefully at the thing held in Celestias magic. "Itsa...IT'S A HUMAN?!" Twilight practically gushed as she ran underneath it, looking at all of the signs. "It's just like I read in all of those J.R. Ponykin novels! Head, two hands, two feet! Celestia, I thinks it's a human!" Twilight was visibly hopping up and down now, looking at it. The creature speaks again, saying the same thing as before, but more angry sounding now. Celestia prys away the pistol from his hand with her magic, setting it aside on the wing of the aircraft. "Twilight, are you sure? Aren't those dangerous..?" Celestia said with some concern in her voice and on her features. Twilight shakes her head. "They're just an old mares tale and in fiction books, so I don't know. But we could try a language spell on him, so we can communicate!" Celestia was visibly worried about the presence of one of these...humans...in her kingdom. She too read the books and novels. These creatures were often portrayed as violent, destructive and otherwise uncivilized. They lived in caves and used animal fur to keep warm. They ate meat and killed each other for sport. Some books even said they eat each other for dominance of their broods. The thoughts made her grimaced, and the massive object next to her that was easily 5 times her size only worried her more. But with the look in her lovers eyes...who was she to refuse?

"Very well Twilight...but try not to hurt him." Celestia smiled kindly to Twilight, while Luna only rolled her eyes. Watching the whole display made her want to gag. "Of course sister, thou must always stick thy giant flank into matters of mine, even though last we checked, this is thy time to rule." Luna said with a hint of venom in her words as she motioned to the moon high in the sky. Twilight simply ignored Luna and fired the spell at the creature, who immediately responded with something quite unexpected. "WHAT...THE..HELL?! LET ME GO YOU DAMNED BIRD THING!" Celestia and every pony nearby was surprised by the response, finally understanding clearly what the creature was saying. Luna took this chance to take charge. "Fear not creature, we whilst not harm thee. We only wish to converse with thou!" She said sweetly and slowly to the man still suspended in Celestias magic. "Then..put..me..DOWN!" The creature responded with obvious anger in his voice. Celestia did so slowly, but held him in place on the ground with her magic. Talon looked around, removed his helmet and peered at the blue alicorn. "I am Lt. Colonel Talon Masters. Take me to your commanding officer or release me and my aircraft at once."


	2. The Blessed Warbird

**Chapter 2: The Blessed Warbird**

"I am Lt. Colonel Talon Masters. Take me to your commanding officer or release me and my aircraft at once." Talon said coldly to the dark blue alicorn. He stood fast peering at her unflinching, as a Navy officer should.

"We hath no commanding officers, creature. For we are the princesses of Equestria. I am Princess Luna, regent of the moon and stars, Goddess of the Night." She then motions to Celestia. "My sister is Princess Celestia. Regent of the Sun, Goddess of the Daylight for all of Equestria. We are the rulers of our great world." She beams with pride at the human, puffing out her barrel some to appear proud in her stance. "Thou may direct any questions to us."

"Very well. Again, I am Lt. Colonel Talon Masters of the United States Navy. I am the squadron leader of VF-114, U.S.S. Enterprise." He says firmly. "I need to return back to my ship. If you release me, I can give you my word of honor as a naval officer I will not mention this in any of my reports. I am on an assigned mission as a direct order from the president. I must get going." He maintains his fixed gaze on the dark blue alicorn. 'What I need to do is fly the hell out of here away from these freaks! I just hope I can get the gear down and enough room to take off again to leave...from wherever here is.' Talon thinks to himself.

"I'm afraid that will not be possible for the moment it would seem, Mr. Masters. For you see, you are no longer on your world. Nor can we simply allow you to leave in your...contraption. I do not know if it is even capable of flight at this time." Princess Celestia chimes in calmly. She releases her magical grip from the pilot, then steps forward toward him. "It is late, we can provide you a place to rest for now, so you can repair your machine and we can help you return home. However, if you do not come willingly...there are other options.."

"Other options?" Talon turns his gaze to the tall white alicorn, and raises an eyebrow. "With all due respect ma'am, I don't even know where 'here' is. My aircraft was caught in a freak storm, and next thing I knew I was pulled here after lightning struck my wing. Now my bird is sitting on your lawn with its gear up and belly first. Unless you have a crane and a hangar, I can't make repairs. Your sister here set it down on its belly." He motioned to his aircraft. "I'll need a crane to lift it up so I can set it back on its wheels again, as well as access to a runway so I can take off. Whichever one of you made that storm, simply make it again and I'll be on my way back to my planet.."

Celestia sighed and looked at the large machine, then alights her horn with magic. In moments the aircraft is engulfed in a golden aura, and lifted a few inches off of the grass. While she does this, the pilot is awestruck and stumbles backwards with surprise, falling on his backside. "H-How are you doing that?! What is the meaning of this?!" He shouts with evident surprise. This only makes the three alicorns roll their eyes with annoyance. "Please lower your landing gear then, so we can set your machine down properly and safely." Celestia says sweetly, motioning with a hoof for the pilot to do so.

Talon climbs to his feet again and adjusts his flight suit, then walks back to his aircraft and climbs up the side steps on the fuselage to reach the cockpit. He reaches in and powers on the computer again, then turns to Celestia. "I need it higher ma'am. Above your head should be enough!" He calls out to her. Celestia lifts the aircraft higher well above the tip of her horn, then he flips the switches for the gear. Doors open on the sides and the nose section as the landing gear lowers, locking loudly into place with a click. The pilot nods to Celestia. "Alight, set her down really gentle now!" He shakes his head in amazement. 'Just go with it man..you're in a hostile area, your bird is damaged and these horses somehow know voodoo. If they can lift million pound aircraft like its not even there...then it would be a really bad idea to piss them off...'

"Glad you seen things our way." Twilight says, the giddiness in her voice evident. She canters up to the aircraft." And we can talk for a bit, you could tell us all about you and your kind! yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" Twilight Sparkle begins bounding in her spot, excited at the prospect of learning and possible experimentation on the strange and wondrous machine. This made the pilot clearly uneasy, as everypony but Twilight notices. "Oh Celestia this is wonderful! And we can even stay up all night and study each others cultures!"

Luna clears her throat, annoyed by the display. "That is quite enough Twilight Sparkle. For now let us retire, and bring this contraption into the castle where it can be safe guarded for now. Guards! Clear the main ball room and open the doors to their fullest, we shalt allow this machine to rest in there!" Princess Luna grasps the aircraft and the pilot in her magic, levitating them both while cantering to the back of the palace gardens, leaving Celestia and Twilight in the front area alone. Talon protests to being flown around like the alicorns personal kite like this, but can do very little about it. Meanwhile the gaggle of Lunar Stallions race ahead of the princess, following her orders as quickly as their hooves would allow. Within several minutes, the ballroom is completely clear and open for the aircraft. Luna sizes up the doors and looks back to the aircraft, seeing one major problem; the wings are too wide to clear the doors. "Human creature, praytell; doth your contraption have a way to fit through yonder doors? Or shall we find a larger structure for thee?"

Talon now hanging upside down and floating in the dark alicorns magic simply folds his arms and scowls at his captor. "If you would give me a moment, I could retract the canards for storage. The vertical stabilizers also fold into themselves." He sneers at her, annoyed by his current predicament.

"Oh...very well then." Luna dismissively waves her left forehoof and drops him, unceremoniously to the ground. The pilot falls quickly and lands on his back. She snickers behind her hoof, an ill attempt to hide her joy at seeing the abrasive humans mild torment.

Talon grumbles under his breath, rises to his feet and sweeps himself off with his hands, eyeing the alicorn warily. He climbs back into the cockpit of the aircraft and starts the ignition sequence up. The engines begin to hum to life with a low pitch 'Whirrrrrrrrrm' with a very high pitch whistle. He continues his work for a moment, folding in the wings and the vertical stabilizers while he checks main systems. Monitors and gauges come on and activate, as the computer checks the aircrafts components and equipment. 'Better check what weapons I was equipped with before I took off...lets see now..'

Luna watches in wonder as the massive machine before her seems to come to life and transform before her eyes. The sound of the engine puts her off somewhat, but piques her curiosity about it that much more. She leaps into the air and flaps her wings, bringing herself into a hover next to the canopy of the warbird, peering in and smiling at the sight before her. She sees lots of colored dials, lights and strange mirror like boxes with pictures. The space is small, but loaded with various levers, switches, buttons and panels. Truly this is a marvel to behold! The alicorn smiles widely, watching the strange creature work the controls of this wondrous contraption. She hears a loud CLACK! sound behind her and cranes her neck, noting the wings have folded in close to the nose now, and the two pointy stubby wings on its back are folding down as well. She turns her gaze back to the pilot and the strange pictures on the box, wondering what it is that he is so interested in.

lets see now...four Sidewinders, two throat rippers, two sparrows, one blue ferret, one truncation implosion bomb and one nuke...add In eight hundred .50 caliber sable rounds. The ammo team on ship sure knew how to party.' He thinks to himself, not noticing the alicorn hovering slightly above his left shoulder, peering at his monitor. He changes screens and looks up at the doors, then back to his screen, judging the height of the massive and high doors versus the height of the now storage ready aircraft. After the vertical stabilizers fold down he closes the canopy and throttles up the engines to 40% power. The aircraft wheels forward slowly, nose first into the massive indoor ballroom. He cringes as the top of the canopy, now the highest point on the aircraft scrapes softly against the top of the massive doorway. It takes a full minute before the aircraft clears the doors then rolls into the room. Pitching the flight stick hard to the right, he swings the nose of the bird around inside the room slowly, turning it around to once again face the out doors. From tip to tail the aircraft takes up roughly half of the room. When he notices the alicorns horn glowing again, he holds up his hands where she can see them and speaks. "I'm going to shut down the engines now! Please do not do anything."

Luna eyes the craft carefully and returns to the ground, keeping her distance from the noisy machine. The poor guards all around the room are covering their ears the best they can, as the engines noise is too loud for them and causing extreme pain. One of the stallions is standing a bit too close to the tail of the aircraft, some of his mane and tail begin to smoke and burn away from the engines exhaust. With a yelp and a jump he leaps back, clutching a spear and trying to threaten the warbird with it. "Evil wicked banshee! Its breath is as hot as tatarus!"

Talon shuts down the engines finally satisfied on its position. His hand still on the flight stick and noting the alicorns position to the nose, he considers for a moment pulling the trigger and firing the forward guns. The alicorn fixes her gaze on him however, noticing that he's looking right at her through the glass. He sees her horn light again, and removes his hand from the flight stick. "There, she's parked. Now what do you want, horse?" The pilot furrows his brow, showing he's obviously annoyed with his predicament.

Luna simply smiles at him sincerely, then lifts her forehoof and points at the aircraft. "Come out now, creature. We only wish to converse with thee, and ask some simple questions. You shan't be harmed, you have my oath as a princess as such." She peers at her Lunar Stallions behind the aircraft, who get the hint to back away to the doors rather than to crowd the alien and his craft. This is a show of good faith on her behalf, to coax the human from it.

Talon weighs his options, glancing about the room. On one hand, he has a full automatic sub machine gun with four clips in the cockpit. He figures if he takes out the princess first, he might be able to wipe out a number of guards and possibly get his aircraft out and in the air again, provided he can find a long enough stretch in the gardens to take off. On the other hand, if he attacks he may fail, be killed and then these space horses will have access to Earths technology and a nuclear weapon. God knows they could use that as a reason to find Earth and declare war. _'Bad idea...wish they would have gone over first contact scenarios in basic training..' _He thinks to himself. On the other hand, he could simply grab his satchel he carries with him on every mission, and simply step out from his aircraft. Look for another chance to escape after he's earned their trust. Then scramble his first chance and blow this place sky high after he finds a way home. He moves his hand away from the gun and grabs his satchel, tucking away another military issue .9mm hand gun and two clips in it, then opens the canopy and starts to climb out. Once out, he presses the controls on the side panel of the aircraft and closes the canopy again, to prevent the alien horses from entering the warbird.

"Splendid!" Princess Luna says with a smile and happy tone of voice, then sits on her haunches while waiting for the alien to come closer. "Creature, perhaps we could speakest for a while. We would like to know more about err...hoo mans..as this is our first meeting with one such as thee." She tilts her head to the side and motions for him to come closer with her hoof.

"Humans." He corrected her. "Furthermore, I have a name, space horse. You can call me Talon." He speaks gruffly, then approaches her. He opens the side flap to his satchel, which instantly attracts unwanted attention from the guards. Before he could blink, he's tackled down to the ground by three Lunar Stallions, pinned with one sitting on his chest. The other two bare their sharp fangs at him and threaten him with spears. Talon struggles to push the guards off of him. "What...WHAT THE HELL?! YOU LIED!"

Luna gasps in horror as the guards tackle the alien, opening her wings quickly in protest. "Release him at once! Do not harm him!" She rushes to the gaggle of guards upon the poor human, pushing the one off of his chest. "Forgive them, for they are merely protecting their princess. They meant no harm to thee!"

Talon coughs and holds his ribs, after feeling a massive armored horses ass resting on it. He rolls to his side and gasps for air, coughing and wheezing for a moment. After this continues for a good minute, he catches his breath and sits up, glaring at the guard that was sitting on him. "I WAS REACHING FOR A SMOKE YOU RETARDED BAT PONY!" He flips off the guard, then reaches back into his now crushed bag, then retrieves a mostly flattened pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He holds it up and shows the stallion, glaring at him the whole time. Opening the box and bringing a now bent and somewhat flattened cigarette to his lips, he lights it and offers one to the princess. "Here." He coughs and hacks. "Take-" Cough cough "-Take one!" He clears his throat and takes a pull off of the cigarette, continuing to hold the pack out to the princess from his seated position.

The princess sniffs the package, then looks at the alien and his burning, foul smelling tube. "Praytell...what...what is this? Doth though eat it?" She examines it closely, curious things these humans are! They have massive machinery, and seem to enjoy fire sticks in their mouths! What a strange thing this is!

"It's a peace offering. I take it you don't have these on your planet. You smoke it, like this." He takes another puff, then in hails deep, exhaling the smoke into the air above him. He sets down the pack on the ground, then looks back up at the blue alicorn towering over him. "You could sit down, space horse. You wanted to talk, so lets talk."

Luna watches him retract the box and set it on the floor, then nods and comes to rest on her belly, now seeing eye to eye with the human before her. "We would likest if thou calls us Luna. Not space horse, Talon." She smiles at him and watches in wonder as he continues breathing on the fire stick. The smoke causes her to cough a little, as the offending odor from it is not something she is accustomed to. "A peace offering sounds wondrous and delightful. May I perhaps try the one thou is 'smoking' before we wasteth your supply?" She calmly asks, somewhat hopeful that she doesn't have to endure much more of it. The strange smell and taste on the air is something she doesn't seem to like, but will bare with it for the sake of establishing friendly relations with the newfound creature of fiction. She flutters her wings slightly and folds them loosely at her sides, relaxing a bit and gazing at the slowly smoking tube in the pilots mouth.

He shrugs and pulls the cigarette from his lips, then flips it in his fingers and reaches out to Lunas mouth. "Take it, put your lips on the tan part there and suck lightly. Then breathe through your mouth to in hail it. Breath out to exhale the smoke and vapor." He offers.

Princess Luna does so, as she is trying to be friendly with the newcomer. She chomps lightly with her lips and closes them close to his fingers, then follows his instructions and suckles at the filter. The taste is something she can't honestly say she likes or dislikes at the moment, but is willing to learn to like it if need be. She then releases the tube from her lips and in hails through her mouth as suggested. Surprise; it burns her throat. Her eyes go wide and she coughs, exhaling the smoke in a coughing fit. She wasn't expecting this at all! She continues coughing for a few moments, while hearing the pilot chuckle.

"heh heh...it Takes some getting used to." He laughs lightly then takes another puff again, flicking the ashes into the palm of his free hand and offers the cigarette to her again. Luna eyes the cigarette warily, but complies and takes another puff. This time she only slightly coughs, the effect much less severe the second time. This brings a smile to his face as he takes another pull from the nearly depleted cigarette. "This is what some of my people do where I'm from, after we return from a mission or we get together. It's a form of relaxation. "

She smacks her lips and opens her mouth slightly. The taste is not what she expected, and seems confused as to weather or not she enjoys it. Her head feels slightly light and her vision somewhat altered, but no noticeable ill effects from it. She looks at the pilot in the eyes and smiles. "You humans have some strange customs. But we believe we can learn them quickly. Relaxation sounds...fun!"

The cigarette finally goes out after it reaches the filter, he puts the ashes and the cigarette butt on the top of the box next to him. "Well I look forward to learning some of yours." He says genuinely. "Do all of your kind look like you? I mean are they all as big as you with wings and a horn." He motions with his hand at her wings.

"Neigh, I am an alicorn. Only a few exist, my sister and I the original ones. The smaller purple mare you seen earlier was my sisters student and special somepony. She is the youngest alicorn known to exist. Some have just wings, they art pegasi. Some pony's have just horns, we calleth them unicorns. The ones with neither art called earthen pony's." she supply's an answer. "There are four types all together; though we hath recently found a new species of foul bug creatures that looketh like us, called changelings. Horrid creatures they are, parasites the whole race."

"Changelings...Unicorns..Pegasi? We have those creatures in our myths and legends on Earth. But those are just in story books and folk tales. Earth pony's though...they sound much like horses we have back home. No wings or horns. Most are kept as pets or as help around farms. We also have them as friends and companions." He smiles to her. "I myself grew up on a farm as a child, I had my own horse. She was a very good, very proud mare. About your size too if I remember correctly."

"She sounds grand. What was your pony's name, Talon?" Luna asks politely, curious at this point. "And where is she now, may we inquire?"

Talon looks away for a moment, eyeing the guards peering at him with a stoic look on their faces, then back to Luna. "I called her Tina. Miss Feisty Tina. And she's with my younger sister now. I couldn't exactly take her with me when I joined the Navy after all. Aircraft carriers aren't places where pets are allowed. Military protocols and all." He says quietly. In all honesty he did miss the horse, and wasn't sure how it was doing in its old age. He's about to speak again when the blue alicorn interrupts.

"And to you, do all of your people look like you? Doth everypony also have these contraptions that thou arrived in?" She motions to the aircraft with her hoof, accidentally tapping Talons leg lightly. She blushes slightly, the color hidden somewhat under her dark coat. Talon doesn't seem to notice, or if he has he makes no mention of it.

"Negative ma'am. I am one of a very few of my people that fly in this particular type of aircraft. Not many humans can fly any of these machines, let alone the special warbird I arrived in." As if on cue at finishing his sentence, Lunas eyes narrow at him, a stern look in her features.

_'Warbird, as in the word War. This craft is meant for battle_...' Luna whispers under her breath. "Talon...what was thou mission that thy was in flight for? Why doth thou calleth this machine a bird of war?" She asked incredulously.

Talon struggles with words and adjusts his position uncomfortably. "Uhm..that's classified ma'am. I was flying a mission requested by my nations leader. I had to uhm...escort Something..Something very important. My wingman and several others in my squadron had several of these packages to deliver to certain places." He coughs lightly and adverts his eyes. "Uhm...Warbird is just a classification of the type of aircraft. Some are meant specifically for transporting, some are fighters, and some and just passenger aircraft. I am a fighter pilot...a Warrior of my people, much like your guards there." He adds quickly.

Luna eyes him, unsure if she believes him completely by the way he avoided and gave an elusive answer, but accepted his explanation anyway. She would simply have to examine the machine herself at a later time. The two continue talking about various subjects for an hour longer, ranging from weather to information about city's and their respective occupants. The conversation however is brought to a halt, when Lunas stomach grumbles loudly. She takes pause and giggles softly and blushes at her body's betrayal, returning her gaze to the pilot. "It would seem as though it is time for me to eat...would You like something as well, Talon?"

Seeing yet another opportunity, Talon reaches for his satchel once again. The guards notice this (again.) and begin approaching. "I'm just grabbing a snack.." He reaches in slowly, his gaze still on the lead guard. Seconds later he retrieves a small paper sack and dumps the contents ontop of his bag, revealing several chocolate bars, a small bag of sunflower kernels and various nuts/ fruit bits. He looks at the small pile and grabs a chocolate bar, opening the wrapper and breaks off a large piece, holding his hand out to the alicorn with his palm up and wide open. "Here..try this. You may enjoy it."

Luna eyes the mysterious sweet smelling confection in his hand. The scent dances in her nostrils and she licks her lips. That scent she does know well; chocolate. It's not every day one gets to experience the sweet confection of her guilty pleasure, much less from another world, and readily lowers her head and eats the piece right out of his hand. She nips at the piece with her lips gently, then gobbles the piece down slowly; enjoying every second of its sinfully delicious taste. She moans softly in ecstasy as the taste fills her mouth, replacing the interesting taste from earlier. Eagerly she licks her lips again and nuzzles his hand, licking the palm of it to get the small melted particles off of his skin. The guards watch in amazement and confusion, coming closer slowly to see what the princess is enjoying so much.

"Oh you like that huh?" Talon smiles slyly, then breaks off another piece and holds it out to her again, where it is readily and quickly devoured by the content and very happy alicorn. He gets the idea he may be able to appease the guards, and breaks off another piece and offers it to the closest guard. The Lunar Stallion sniffs at the piece and swallows hard, looking to his princess for permission. Once she nods in approval, he nibbles at the piece slowly, giving much the same reaction that princess Luna gave. It's not long before the other guards also want a turn, and Talon opens two more chocolate bars to give to them. The stallions are now very content and smiling at him. Apparently this act of generosity was all it took to win them over! Talon grins inwardly at this. His attention turned back to the princess now, who has gotten up and has her muzzle in the paper bag, sniffing for more of the delicious confection. "I have more in the cockpit ma'am. If you give me a moment, I'll go and get the other bag I have."

The princess blushes, her muzzle stuck with the paper bag on it and her hoof caught in the proverbial cookie jar. She has a look of endearing innocence on her features, as she paws gently at the paper sack on her nose, but secretly enjoys the scent left behind by the chocolate. She flops back down and lays on her belly again before the pilot. "Neigh, 'twill not be necessary." She alights her horn and focuses hard on the remaining chocolate bar, casting a replication spell. One flash of light and some magic shimmer later, a pile upto the pilots waist from his sitting position appears. There's atleast fifty more chocolate bars now. She finally removes the paper sack and licks her lips again, then nuzzles the pilots hand with genuine affection.

He sits amazed and bewildered by the spectacle, seeing a pile of chocolate bars magically appear from thin air. "You can duplicate items?!" He asks in awe, blinking and rubbing his eyes, still not quite believing what he just witnessed occur right in front of him. He turns his attention to the alicorn nuzzling his hand and very slowly brings up his other hand. He sets it gently on her head, waiting for a response. When she continues with her affectionate display and shows no ill tempered signs, he strokes her head and behind her left ear gently, running his fingers through her wispy ethereal mane. This earns him a very low but friendly whinny by the princess, as he continues.

"Yes.." She closes her eyes and enjoys the contact, surprised at herself for how complacent she is being with the alien. "Simple objects and small things like...ohhhhhh right there.." she says as he hits the spot right behind her ear, making it twitch slightly. "Objects like food, water, drinks and tools.." She stops nuzzling him and rests her head on his leg, enjoying the contact. The Lunar Stallions have never seen their princess so relaxed and happy before! They are starting to really like these human things! They all look to each other and nod furiously in approval, then turn their attention back to the human. Lunas eyes remain closed as she murmurs and moans softly, breathing deep and thoroughly enjoying the contact. She takes in his scent into her nostrils, wanting to fill her lungs deep with the enjoyable wonderful smell she captured. It's a mix of something very sweet, some part of the fuel and exhaust from the mysterious craft, and chocolate. As far as the almighty Faust is concerned, she's clearly in alicorn heaven at this very moment. Her back right leg twitches gently as she nuzzles deeper into her newfound pillow.

Talon is taken aback by his new lap warmer, this clearly being a better reaction than he was expecting. He continues to stroke the alicorns head and neck, carefully tracing the muscle tone with his fingers and caressing the softness of her fur. He gazes at her horn now more than close enough to examine, and notes it's very similar to what he always pictured from story books. He can see it has spirals and protrudes from her head as if attached to her skull itself, and traces its base with his free hands fingertips. This only earns a somewhat stronger twitch from the alicorns leg, and he stops for a moment. She didn't seem to mind, so he starts again. The texture is somewhat rough, yet smooth. As if the horn was crafted out of the same braided wire that runs throughout his aircraft. He also feels the texture difference of where the horn ends and the fur begins again. For first contact, this is going much smoother than he was ever hoping for.

The two beings sit in silence for a while longer like this, enjoying each others company and getting to know one another on a more intimate level. Though Talon treated the situation like he would with his old horse back on earth, Luna was looking at this from a much different angle. These humans in her opinion now are no longer the creatures fabled of being violent, manovelent wicked beings of lore, but gentle, warm kind protectors, that seem to know just how to treat a mare. She sighs happily and content, lazily opening her eyes again and eyeing more of the delicious chocolate. She slowly raises her head again and smiles genuinely happy to him, half lidded and content she sighs and speaks softly.

"Could we trouble thee to open more of thy confections, so we can share the wondrous bounty with my stallions?" She speaks slowly, her voice thick with content and joy. She is very clearly lost in the moment, resting very close to the human and his wondrous machine.

Talon nods silently and begins opening more and more of the candy, packing the empty wrappers back into the paper sack to dispose of later, and hands each Lunar Stallion a full chocolate bar, which they take into their mouths and greedily devour, content and happy. This repeats several times until each one has had their fill, leaving ten remaining chocolate bars in the pile. He opens two more and serves the princess portions at a time, her continuing to take them directly from his open hand as before.

Acceptance. Of all the things the princess of the night ever wanted, she was getting it right that very moment. Pure, unconditional acceptance. Nothing about her past, her banishment, her angst or pain was even a factor here. In the presence of this alien and his mysterious aircraft looming over their heads, she was relishing in all of it. Luna happily sighed and enjoyed this moment of peace, almost completely forgetting everything else around her. It was this night she truthfully in her eyes, made a new honest to Faust friend. "My dear Talon, we believe this could be the start of a beautiful and wonderful relationship." She says contently, her voice even moreso thick with happiness and glee.

Talon smiles at this and stretches out a bit, then leans back against the landing gear of the nose. He yawns, and takes a moment to look at his wrist watch. '_I'll bet by now Wizard is well on his way back to the boat after dropping off that 'gift'' to those bastards...that lucky son of a bitch. I wonder if they've sent out a search party if they got my communication before I got yanked here..._' He thinks to himself. He shakes his head and sighs. "Man...If I ever do make it home...I'll bet no one would even believe me about any of this."

Hearing this makes the dark alicorn pause, her mood somewhat damper by his words. She wasn't wanting him to want to leave so soon! She shifts her weight a bit in place, then buries her head back into his lap while thinking of an excuse. "We are sure that they wilst believe thou...for You seem to be a virtuous and friendly human. We will...help the...make it home if we can.." She murmurs, her eyes closed again. She takes a deeper breath and breathes out slowly, getting comfortable. 'When I retire to mine chambers...that book with yonder portal spell wilst find its fate in mine fireplace! I wish him to stay here..' She thinks to herself, unwilling to let her newfound friend to up and leave so quickly. Or ever...if she has a choice in it. That tome in her study is the only one in all of equestria with that one portal spell, that she herself created in the days prior to becoming Nightmare Moon. With a quick visit to any fireplace, that spell would vanish from existence, this thought made her happy, if not feeling a little bit greedy and selfish. She is a princess, after all she thought, and since Tia has whatever Tia wants...why Can't Luna have her cake and eat it too? Yes...it Would be all so simple to make the aliens life cushy and easy here, she could learn more and more about him, and maybe even learn more about his great machine! Oh how it looked so interesting and maybe even fun! She smiled at this concept and even began to consider wanting to learn what its like to fly in it..

From her balcony, Celestia watches all of this unfold through the view of her telescope. She yawns wearily, being well beyond her bed time. She looks back at Twilight, who lay asleep on the large bed in the alicorn goddesses chambers, a bit of drool coming from her mouth while she cradles a book between her hooves. Celestia turns her attention back to the scene below in the ball room, alicorn mischief dancing in her eyes. She can't recall having ever in her lifetime ever seeing her sister so content and happy, nor close to anypony before. This is a first for Celestia, and brings a very final thought to her mind. This human must be swiftly investigated thoroughly, and if he is indeed as good as Luna seems to believe..He absolutely must stay. Even if it is wrong to hold him, and against every teaching she has ever given...the happiness of her younger sisters heart must now come first. She made the mistake before of ignoring it..And ended up with a one thousand year nightmare. Yes...this time she would do things the right way; not as a ruler of a nation, but as a sister to a sister. But one thought kept finding its way back to the front of her mind, constantly nagging at her thoughts. The pilot is hiding something...and that something has to do with that massive black flying machine. Something is within its bowels, and she needs to find whatever it is and remove it soon. It feels...dangerous. She hears laughter upon the wind and looks down through her telescope again, seeing her sister lay on her back with her legs in the air and her head still in the aliens lap, experiencing a full real belly laugh as if the pilot or somepony had just told a very funny joke. This makes Celestia smile, as she turns and canters her way back to her bed for the evening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lulu...Wake up dear sister.." Celestia nudges gently with her muzzle against Lunas sleeping form. The smoke from some of the still smoldering debris and the smell of the leaked fuel from the wrecked aircraft stinging her eyes and her nose. She nudges a little harder at Lunas side.

Princess Luna awakens with a start, it's mid day. She is still laying by the fuselage of the downed and broken aircraft, tears streaming from her beautiful jade eyes. In her sleep, she was whimpering and crying, catching the attention of the palace solar guard; thus being reported to princess Celestia. She blearily opens her eyes and looks at her sister, before breaking down into a blubbering mess and wrapping her hooves around her sisters graceful long neck. She buries her muzzle into Celestias coat and sobs, her cries loud and sorrowful.

Celestia falls to her haunches and strokes her sister gently, cooing softly and whispering. "It's ok lulu...it's Going to be ok..." Tears also well up in Celestias eyes, the sadness of the day also falling unto her pained heart. She tries to steel her resolve, but only whimpers aswell, holding and hugging Luna tightly. "Don't worry dear sister of mine...we will find a way to fix this...we will find a way to bring him back to you. To our kingdom..."

Their cries of sorrow fill the air, as the tears of mourning fall to the ground and twisted metal below their hooves from the wreckage. All around them, Solar and Lunar guards ponies, palace servants and workers alike begin to weep as well. One of the Lunar Stallions looks mournfully behind him at the once ballroom, feeling as empty as the former aircrafts hangar now is. Seeing that no longer will the tool boxes ever be touched...no longer will the moonlight fuel be poured. No longer would they hear the once beloved sound of the banshees cry overhead. This was truly the saddest day in equestria history indeed.


	3. Lessons for a princess part 1

**Chapter 3; Lessons for a princess, part one**

Princess Luna say infront of her vanity in her bed chambers, restless and depressed. It's nightfall now, and after raising the moon she wished to be alone with her thoughts. Her room is dark, minus a single candle lit on her dresser. The curtians are wide open, allowing the pale moonlight in and the chilly night air. Done brushing her mane and tail, she sulks. Earlier that afternoon, Celestia had pulled her away from the wreckage and forced her to go rest. Celestias logic was not flawed; the night princess would need her rest for the next day when they begun repairs and surveys of Canterlots damage from the invasion force that swept through only three weeks after the surprise dragon attack.

"Why...why must this pain be so much? What pony did I wrong so that I must endure this..?" Luna whispers to herself. Her gaze falls onto the worn out and faded tan canvas satchel the pilot had carried. In it were the wonderous machines and devices, as well as the confections he had when he was here with her. Next to it, was several stacked packs of the fire sticks he had enjoyed so, that she replicated more for him when his supply was low. The thoughts of knowing that the owner of these items now lay dead somewhere in the wreckage just under her balcony haunted her. Out of anger she punches the mirror with her left forehoof, shattering it.

The door to her chambers opens as a guard comes to inspect the source of the sound, finding the night princess sitting in her vanity chair, and mirror shards scattered about the vanity top, and carpeted floor all around her. "Princess, are you alright? Can I get you anything?" He speaks in a hushed tone, knowing who it was that shattered the mirror and that there was clearly no danger at this moment.

"Neigh...I am fine. Please return to your post." She comments bitterly, not looking at the Lunar Stallion. Her gaze is fixed at the remaining sharp pieces still left in the frame of the shattered mirror.

The guard nods, somewhat hurt by the princesses reaction, but understanding given the situation. He too was fond of the human, and had grown to like the creature. All of the Lunar Stallions had, knowing he was not only a warrior like themselves, but the one thing that has kept the princess happier than anypony has ever seen her before. Such was the great feat he had accomplished that anypony with half of a brain had come to respect that. The stallion backs out of the room and closes the door quietly, returning to stand guard once more.

Once again left to her own devices, she stands back up and walks to the dresser. With her magic she opens the satchel and pulls out the contents, looking at them. To the far left was a music device, the screen cracked from when she accidently stepped on it one evening while the human was working on something under the aircraft. In the center was a small billfold, with various colored scraps of paper and plastic sheets in it. And finally to the right, was an old faded photograph. The edges were worn out and freyed, the corners torn and the photo faded, possibly due to its age and sun damage. Luna gazed at this object, and studied it, remembering when the pilot finally spoke of his past, that fateful night they were at her former home; the castle of the two pony sisters deep within the everfree forrest. The image was of the pilot, a female and a child. They were standing infront of what the pilot called a 'Dauntless', holding a sign that said 'First Flight.' She sighed deeply and put the items down, trotting away to the balcony sorrowfully.

Luna looks out to the world before her, seeing the night sky killed with plumes of smoke still wafting throughout Canterlot. Since so much of the city was devistated, not many lamps are lit, bringing the city into a sea of darkness. Far off in the distance, she can make out the small speck that is the ruins of the old castle, and the treeline of the everfree forrest. She sighs deeply and closes her eyes, spreads her wings wide, and leaps into the air. Silently she glides, flying away towards the ruins.

She flys for a solid hour, finally reaching her destination after a long and uneventful flight under her moonlit sky. She lands softly on the castles broken steps, kicking up some dust as her hooves touch the ground. All round her is dark and quiet, as she steps into the ghostly castle. Memories flood her mind, giving her a faint smile as she looks around. It was in this room they slept, resting after the aircraft had run out of fuel and had to land here. So many discoveries were made during those days they were stranded here, some if not all were likely to be her fondest memories of her lifetime. After she walks into the room further and reaches the makeshift bed they had made from various materials they had found here. It was here she came to a rest, laying on the cold stony floor and damp fabric, next to the broken stained glass window. She lays on her side, her head resting on the pile of grass stuffed into the quickly made pillow. She goes over the memories of that day in her mind, trying to find something to cling to for the sake of her sanity.

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"And this is called the altimiter. It shows how high in the sky this bird is flying." He shows her with a hand motion, then points to the gauge. Luna nods slowly, a smile upon her lips at this. She is spending more time with the pilot, Celestia leaving her in charge of keeping an eye on their unexpected visitor. Luna didn't mind this, however. The aircraft is housed in the ball room, now converted to be the tempory hangar for the time being. Two custom made tool boxed packed full of equipment for the aircraft rest against the wall. The princesses had requested that they be made, and the specialty tools crafted by the best engineers in Canterlot, just so the pilot could maintain his machine. This was princess Celestias gift to the pilot, as a way to ask him to stay a little longer. Due to the treatment and accomidations by the princesses, he didn't seem to distressed about remaining in equestria for a little while longer.

The palace staff and guards, both Solar and Lunar have grown accustomed to the presence of the human, and found his company both interesting and enjoyable. The off duty guards would come and talk with him in the hangar, learning more of the human world and traded war stories. The maids and staff would occasionally seek him out as well to both glimpse at him, and to investigate the massive black machine in the castle. Ponies outside the gardens entryway were hard at work too, creating a seamless path from the ball rooms entryway to the courtyard, as requested by the princess of the night. It's been a whole month since he came from the sky that fateful night, and half of Canterlot was awakened in alarm at the sound of the banshees cry. The skies have since been silent and quiet as ever, and rumors have spread about it being some sort of stunt by the weather ponys as a joke.

Luna dreamy eyed watches and listens to the pilot some more, interested in everything he had to say about the aircraft and its inner secrets. She finally speaks when a large red switch catches her eye. "Praytell Talon, What does this red one do?"

Accidently slipping in conversation due to the excitement of teaching and being prideful, he says byfar the worst thing he could have. He could have lied, said it controlled the flaps, or something small. Insted, he says the truth. "Oh, that's just the weapons bay doors releas-oh hell."

Lunas eyes open wide with surprise hearing this, snapping her back to reality. "Weapons bay you say? And uh...what doth have inside the weapons bay?" She asks with a stern look, her muzzle brought close to the pilots face. She is so close, he can smell her breath and feel her exhale upon him.

"Uhm...classified. I can't talk about it." He finishes, hopeful the secret will be kept. '_Not like she'd know what she was looking at anyway even if she did look. To her they would be just giant spears with fins.'_ He thinks to himself, backing up slowly from her as far as he could, being he was sitting in the cockpit.

Luna narrows her eyes to him, scowling. "Thou said thy warbird was harmless in its state. Wouldst thou be fibbing to thy princess?" Her hoof slowly moving over to the switch on the panel. Talon holds up his hands, feigning innocence.

"The bird IS harmless while it's on the ground like this. All that is in there is just...gifts..yeah, gifts for some people back on my planet." He swallows hard, looking away. "Well, this concludes our lesson for the day Miss Luna! How about we go for a walk around town?" He offers quickly.

Luna keeps her gaze on him, and flicks her hoof over the switch, a loud click and the sound of grinding metal is heard for a moment, followed by a loud SLAM of the doors flying open. She pushes herself off of the fusalage, landing back on all four hooves from her standing position on her hand legs. She folds her wings in protest tightly against her body, and cranes her kneck and head to look for the source of the sound. There right infront of her eyes on the back of the aircrafts belly, two large, long black doors on both sides lay open. She lowers herself down to a crawling position and climbs benieth the warbirds belly, then stands up inside the weapons bay. "Human, what doth these be?!" She yells, her voice echos inside the warbirds weapons bay. The sight before her is as confusing as it is amazing.

The alicorn sees two long racks in a line, carrying many objects of different sizes. They're all either grey, green or blue with yellow stripes. All with words and numbers on them she dosen't understand. All except for one. The back rack has the largest of these objects, with a black and yellow circle on its plain white case. It's long and wide, shaped like an arrow with a cone tip. There are two slots on its body, one in the middle, and one in the back next to a large black cone. In red, bold letters, she sees one word she knew. She had seen the writing all over the aircraft. From the intake where the warbird breathed, to the tail where the banshees crys came from. The word, was danger. Talon by now has climbed out of the cockpit and come to her level, joining her in the weapons bay.

"Uhm- you see Luna.." He nervously states, trying to come up with an explination. "These uhm...these are normal on all navy aircraft. They're nothing to really talk about!" He tries quickly. "Really it's nothing of inter-"

"What ist so dangerous about the big one? Why ist it alone on its rack, and the only one marked danger?" She turns to him, her eyes focused and alarmed. Concern is written on her face as she tilts her head, her horn scraping against one of the missles in the front rack. The magical spark makes the missles onboard computer turn on, sounding an alert tone in the cockpit. "**MISSLE ARMED. MISSLE ARMED." ** Luna goes wide eyed and backs up in alarm, her head smacking against the front wall of the weapons bay. She winces and rubs the back of her head, then returns her glare to where the pilot once stood. He's scrambling up the fusalages side steps to hit something on the panel. The alarm silences, and she hears him huff in relief. She crawls out from under the plane, and stands again, looking at the pilot standing there still outside the aircrafts cockpit, his head against the canopy glass. "What was that...What is a missle armed?"

He surrenders, knowing he's probably about to have to kill her and try to fight his way out of the castle. He reaches inside the cockpit with one arm, while turning to face the alicorn. His hand finds the gun he hidden under the seat cushion, and he grabs it; finger on the trigger. "That princess, was you almost blowing us to hell." He answers with finality. "What you just activated was an AIM-4 sidewinder missle. Those are packed with enough explosives to blow anything out of the sky... If that went off inside the bay, this city would be a sheet of glass." He tightens his grip on the gun, about to pull it out and fire. He stops when the next question she asks catches him off guard.

"Will you protect us with those?" Luna asks, sounding unsure and shaken. Her pupils small with terror, thoughts of what kind of power she is really looking at now.

He looks at her, silent for a moment, then loosens his grip, putting the gun back under the seat slowly. "...Yes. I would if I needed to." He says quietly. He looks at Lunas face, seeing something unexpected. Her smile. That same sweet innocent smile he's grown used to seeing on her muzzle every day. The same smile she had when they first spent the night in the hangar here, against the nose landing gear.

"I'm glad." she says happily. Luna looks at him, her gaze soft again and carefree. "I believe you. I honestly believe you." She nods slowly, her eyes fixed on him. She sighs whistfully, color coming to her cheeks and showing through her dark coat.

The doors open to the ballroom from the inside of the castle, revealing Celestia and Twilight, as well as several other ponys Talon hadn't met yet. Luna is startled by the sudden intrusion, and shakes her head out of her trance. She turns to face the offending gaggle, scowling. "Greetings, mine sister." Her voice with a hint of venom.

"Hello, little sister. Hello Mr. Talon. Are you finding your time here enjoyable?" Princess Celestia says sweetly. If she heard the hint of malice in Lunas voice, she shown no signs. Celestia extends her regal hoof to the pilot, who takes it into his own hand and shakes.

"Good afternoon Ma'am." Talon says with a smile and friendly tone. "Yes ma'am, everything is ship shape and working. Thank you very kindly for your hospitality while I am here. Is there something I can do for you today?" He says as he takes an at ease stance before the regal white alicorn. His legs are shoulder width apart, his hands held behind his back and his posture straight and non threatening. He stands exactly as a Navy officer would when addressing a commanding officer after the initial salute.

Celestia smiles, alicorn mischief in her eyes as she gazes slowly upon the pilot. "Yes, now that you mention it. I have here with me some ponys who have been looking forward to finally meeting you. If you're willing to take the time, could you possibly show them your machine?" She says with her calm, regal tone.

"It would be an honor, ma'am." The pilot replies calmly, and nods. Before he can react and dodge, his arm is suddenly grabbed and his hand pumped vigerously in a hand/hoof shake. A blond earth pony with an orange coat and a stetson hat with apple shapes in her fur on her flank is the first to greet him.

"Weeeeellll howdy there stranger! Welcome to Equestria! Twi here had mentioned we'd be meeting a new kind of folk, she never said it would be a human folk though! Shucks, had ah of known, ah'd have brought more of my sweet apple acers apples with me. Best apples you'd ever try on any world ah tell ya!" The excited country pony says. "Names Applejack. Applejack Apple! It's a reeeal darn tootin pleasure!"

The pilot releases the hoof, his arm still moving on its own untill he stops it with his free hand. He opens his mouth to speak when an even more excitable pink earth pony with a pink mane and tail bounces upto him. Her fur markings on her flank look like three baloon shapes. The pony before his eyes is somehow not only defying the laws of physics, but the laws of reality as well with her bouncing motions.

"Omigosh a new friend! I like new friends theyresofunandthisiswonderful!" She squeals, bouncing around him in a circle. His head nods following her motions, until he loses his balance and stumbles backwards. "I'm Pinkie Pie!" The psychotic pink pony squeals in delight, sticking her muzzle inches from his face and a wide, scary grin on her face that seems to go from ear to ear. Her large eyes look like pools of vast, empty dark space to him, causing the pilot to shudder.

Princess Luna gasps in horror and moves herself into position between the pilot and the pink menace, her wings opened up in a threatening manner. "That is enough pink one! You're going to scare him!" Luna protests in defiance and stomps one of her hooves, cracking the tile below it.

"actu-" The pilot is cut off when the pink pony is ripped away, replaced by a cyan pegaus pony with a colored lightning bolt on her flanks fur, and with a rainbow colored mane and tail.

"Relax Pinkie. You don't wanna piss off PL again. Don't you remember what she did to you last time you pushed her?" She floats in the air flapping her wings, keeping herself now positioned between Pinkie and the very irritated Luna. The pegasus looks down at the pilot. "Yo. Name is Rainbow Dash. You can call me Dash or RD. So you fly super fast huh? Where are your wings?" Rainbow dash looks him over with a raised eyebrow and a doubtful expression on her features. "How about a race-WOOAH!"

The stetson wearing blond earth pony yanks Rainbows tail in her teeth, pulling the pegasus to the ground. "Easy there partner, y'all are gonna scare him like the princess says, and ah' think that she'd be a might bit tussled if youd gone and done that."

Rainbow dash crosses her forelegs with an irritated scowl, and mutters under her breath. Suddenly the pilot is lifted to his feet in a light blue magical aura, and released. A white unicorn with a deep purple main and diamond shapes on her flanks fur appears behind him. "Greetings darling. I am the lady Rarity." She says in her silken voice. This catches the pilots attention hearing the fashionista, and he turns to face her. She's holding out her hoof in a soft bend, and smiles at him. "You may Call me Miss. Or Rarity. Or Miss Rarity if you please." She giggles softly.

"I am Lt. Colonel Talon Masters of the United States Navy. It's a pleasure to meet you." He takes her dainty hoof into his hand, leans down and kisses it in his greeting. Talon dosen't see it, but the dark blue alicorns eyes go wide and flash with anger at this sight.

"Ohhh...he's a gentlecolt too? I've always loved a stallion in uniform." Rarity smiles seductively, then looks over his attire and grimmaces. "Eh...not much for fashion on your world, I take it?"

Talon looks down at his fatiuges. It's true, his military uniform has seen better days. Being the only outfit he has at all is a single pair of Navy issue fatiuges, a single pair of socks, underware and combat boots, and his flight suit. He washes them every night after his shower, and Luna dries them with her magic for him while he steps onto the balcony and smokes. He sleeps in the princesses private chambers, officially as her charge. Unoffically because the night princess flat told Celestia that is exactly where she wanted him, and she didnt even argue. His fatiuges as well as his flight suit are now faded from washing so often, the fabric worn a little thin in areas, and the stitches on his squadren patches coming undone. His boots are scuffed and dirty, completely unacceptable onboard any navy base of ship. He turns his attention back to the unicorn who already has a tape measurer, a scroll and a quill floating in her magic.

"Ma'am, with all due respect...I haven't had much time to find anything in my size." He jokes, trying to lighten her mood with some humor. "This normally looks better, honest." He says quickly.

"Never fear darling, Lady Rarity, fashion extroridnar is here! You'll have a new fabilous uniform soon enough, I'm sure I can create an ensamble that matches your..." She looks at the warbird behind him, her eyes tracing over its sleek curves and deep black shine of its paint. "You're..black..contraption. Eh heh...not much to work with..." Her eye twitches slightly.

Twilight chimes in now. "And I'm sure Rarity will do a fine job! We had one more pony for you to meet...but she kinda got distracted when she heard we were going to the gardens. I think she flew off to visit some of the animals..." Twilight trails off, noticeing Celestia now snooping around the aircraft. She has her head under the aircraft now, bent over in a very unregal manner as she is stareing into the hold. She's found the missles. "Princess...what's so interesting..?" Twilight canters over to the white alicorn, and looks too. Talon facepalms and sighs.

'_Busted...here we go again.'_ He mutters, walking over to the two alicorn mares. "Ladies, please be careful and watch your horns over there! Those are very delicate and as Luna so kindly pointed out, sensitive to magic." He says quickly, trying to shoo them away before Celestia starts poking around more.

"Mr Talon. What are these devices inside here? Do they have special significance to the aircraft?" Celestia asks whilst looking up at the missles, her gaze fixed on the large one in the back. She wasn't present during any of his teachings to Luna, so she dosen't know what the human writing or the markings mean. She just knows she sees large red letters...and red never means anything good.

He's about to speak and make up an excuse, when Luna takes position next to him and speaks up. "They're recording devices. These were ment to be given to a friendly nation on his world, but now belong to him since he is here, sister." Luna answers in a friendly voice. "Now they're going to be used to help better Equestrias future."

Celestia knows something is wrong now. Luna is never this friendly, especially after she noticed Lunas hostility earlier. She can't prove it now, but she knows one very important detail. Luna is hiding something. And whatever that something is...it's of a very dire nature. Celestia unwillingly backs out from her position and turns to the two, her features calm and regal, masking her suspicions. "Alright then..I'll accept that answer." She smiles softly, her eyes betraying her real emotions.

_'She knows...damnit she knows!'_ Luna thinks, swallowing hard. She smiles, beads of sweat trickling down her face and neck. "Anyway everypony! Talon and I are quite busy for me moment, what do you say we show everypony the aircraft tomarrow? I'm sure he would be more than willing to even turn it on and let you hear it!" She adds quickly, trying to corral the other ponys in the room and push them out the door. The room is filled with cheers of 'alrighty! whooo yeah! and sooo awesome!' from the others, even Celestia nods with an excited smile. It takes a few moments, then they begin to clear the room. Before Celestia steps out, she turns to Luna.

"Lulu...may I speak with you in private, sister?" Celestia smiles innocently, gazeing at Luna. The dark alicorn nods and steps forward, her wing brushing against Talons hand. Talon looks at Luna walking away, and turns around himself to get back into the warbird so he can close the bay doors.

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"Ok sister, spill it. What are those things really?" Celestia looks at Luna in the eyes, her features displaying a stern look and worry. "I know you're protecting him and hiding whatever those things really are, so don't lie."

Princess Luna puffs out her cheeks in anger, her eyes narrowed at her elder sister. "I hide nothing, sister. Thou insults me!" She protests, her wings deploying as she postures, stepping closer to Celestia. Things are getting dangerous now, with the dark alicorn clearly getting more angry by the second.

"I mean no insult lulu...but we don't know anything about humans yet. I want to trust him...but I can't have anything dangerous in our kingdom. We have no idea what the technolegy is or where he even came from!" She says in a hushed tone, to not attract the five ponies talking amongst themselves down the hall.

"I trust him! And that's good enough for me!" Luna retiallates. "He was brought here because of ME, sister. Because I was foalish and played a joke with magic, it was I that ripped him from his world by mistake! I was the one who ended his mission and have taken him from his home! And thou knoweth what?! We wish him to stay! We wish that the craft of which he arrived in would fly again soon so that we may partake in the enjoyment of its flight! Have faith mine sister, you worry needlessly." Luna bites out bitterly.

"And your foalish judgement is clouded dear sister! You're letting your desires for contact and affection to cloud your thoughts, and not seeing those for what they are!" Celestia pushes back. "I know they are weapons of some sort! That big one scares me half to death, I know that machine is dangerous!"

Luna snaps, sticking her muzzle into Celestias with a bump, she goes eye to eye with the elder alicorn. "And you are only thinking of the worst. I know he and his machine are no threat, and will benifit this kingdom. I know and believe you are fretting over nothing! Don't give me this...this manure thou speakist! Leave this be."

"And to what is it you can say that you -know?-" Celestia says, causing Luna to pause. Luna stops and backs away, looking Celestia in the eyes. Softness crosses her features now.

"Because my heart tells me so..." She says in a whisper, adverting her eyes for a moment as her cheeks become hot, flushed and deeply colored. Celestias jaw drops, hearing that completely unexpected answer.

"Your heart...you say?" Celestia says, after a moment of silence. Luna nods slowly, looking intently at the floor. Celestia gives a knowing grin, then sighs happily. "You're heart...very well then sister. I'll believe you..and drop this. " Celestia says gently. Luna smiles a bit, and is about to speak when one of the solar guards approaches the two.

"Princesses!" The guard speaks. "I was just informed that the pathway you requested was just completed and inspected. It is ready for your approval."

"Thank you, Captian Jolt Jump." Celestia says in reply. "Luna, please go get the Colonel and have him inspect the pathway, to see if it correctly meets his specifacations." The princess of the night nods and bows her head a bit, then trots off back to the ballroom.

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Outside the gardens and now looking to the open courtyard, Talon can't believe his eyes. In less than fourteen days, ponys had completely constructed a runway. Not only was it a regulation runway and a taxi way from the hangar to here, but it looked better than any of the ones he's seen on earth. Complete with lights, catch cables a little ways and a wide open space. The only scary part was the mountian side close by. He stood dumbfounded and in shock. Princess Luna watched his reaction, her ears folding back and her head lowering in fear.

"It's wrong..isn't it." The princess breathes shallowly, sorrow and shame crossing her features. Talon looks down at the sulking alicorn and shakes his head in surprise, then looks back to the runway expanse. He removes his sunglasses.

"Wrong? wh-WHAT?!" He mouthes words in disbelief. "No no! It's right! Very very right! This is better than even my nations military can build! This is incredible!" He says with honest shock at the alicorns surprise gift. The runway is perfect.

She perks her ears up when she hears this, hey eyes open wide and a smile curls her lips. She bounds forward and nuzzles his side under his left arm with her muzzle, rubbing her head against his form. Her wings twitch in excitement, held loosly on her sides.

He embraces her and strokes her mane and neck, hearing her give a low whinney and grumble in approval. "Princess, this is perfect! I never dreamed you were serious when you said you'd build one.."

She looks up at him, still smiling. "I was happy to do this...Now...about that flight?" Luna asks wairly, still nuzzleing him affectionately. He turns and starts to walk, Luna closely following in stride.

"Actually..yes. About that...I had an idea. That's...if you're interested." He mentions vaugely, trying to sound uninterested. He continues walking back to the hangar. Luna looks at him as they walk, following the long taxi way.

"What is your idea, Talon?" the alicorn asks, hope evident in her voice. They make it back to the hangar now, and he walks to the aircraft. Luna follows him and rears back on her hind legs again, her forehooves resting on the fusalage so she can look in. Talon grabs a handle, and pushes back behind the pilots seat. Under the panel, is another identical seat and panel setup. This whole time under that black flexi panel- a co pilots position.

"I was thinking we could find a way for you to fly with me." He says with his typical. cocky navy pilot attitude. (You know the one- the 'I'm a hot shot and I know it')

Luna stands flabberghasted, never knowing there was another whole area this whole time. Who knew this version was made to seat TWO pilots? "Haha! The fun has been doubled!" She says giddy with excitement. She steps down back on all fours again, a troubled expression on her face now.

"What's wrong? Is the mighty princess of the night scared?" He says playfully. She only shakes her head silently in response. "...You do want to go...right?" He asks.

"yes...I very much do...But I don't think I can climb up there...or even fit." She says in return. She closes her eyes and looks down, her ears folding back flat against her head. Suddenly, she's being lifted into the air by her rump. In surprise she opens her eyes and looks behind her, feeling the pilot grab her flank. He's struggling, redfaced and obviously exerting himself from lifting her. She weighs a lot..

"You're...getting...in...THERE!" He gives one huge heave, the alicorn landing in the co pilots seat upside down. Her hind legs are sticking out into the air, her tail flicking back and forth in annoyance. He catches his breath and looks up, only to start laughing at the sight. It takes her a few minutes, but she finally twists and turns enough to manuver and right herself. Finally she's seated and huffs with annoyance. Her hoof taps against the fusalage gunnels, glareing at the pilot.

"Did you have to touch my flank...without permission?" She says, then blows a tuft of her whispy etheral mane out of her view. Talon only laughs harder at the sight, and climbs into the pilots seat. He starts flicking switches and buttons, bringing the moniters and the aircraft to life.

"Yes..yes I did." He laughs, hitting the button for the canopy closure as he puts on his flight helmet. "Watch your horn princess, it's going to be a tight fit."

The canopy closes slowly, Lunas long horn barely clearing the top of the glass by just a mere inch. She can't turn her head much, or she'll touch the glass top. Even her muzzle is a bit too big to turn sideways completely in the cramped cockpit. She closes her eyes and alights her horn, casting her alicorn magic for a transformation spell. She engulfs herself in her magic, and becomes slightly smaller. Her mane and tail no longer etheral, but light blue and made of strands of hair. Her coat lightens a bit and her stature becomes like she was before her magic forced her form to change.

Talon is watching all of this with amazement, and just shakes his head. "You could have done that from the start." He rolls his eyes and turns back around, activateing the engines. The warbirds engines begin to come to life, first with a high pitched whine and becoming the sound so many have come to call the banshees cry. The aircraft rolls forward slowly, coming out of the hangar for the first time since his arrival. The nose comes out slowly, then the rest of the warbird. Ponys in the gardens scatter and animals hide from the sound. Once completely clear and on the taxi way, the canards deploy and open once again, the warbird finally flight ready and appearing as the fierce, terrorfiying nightmare that it was made to be.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?!" Luna calls out to him, her voice drowned out by the sound of the engines. She looks around her through the aircrafts glass, seeing Celestia standing there in the distance on the castle steps...smiling. Luna smiles and waves happily, and Celestia returns the gesture. The aircraft reaches the beginning of the runway, and comes to a halt.

Talon closes his eyes, remembering the order of operation onboard the Enterprise. By muscle memory from so many takeoffs, he starts operateing the controls. He brings the engines to full power first, the aircraft begins to roll and pick up speed. He pushes the throttle to its limit, and the afterburners engage. 'SKREEEEEEEEEE!' The sound is deafing to anypony nearby as the aircraft rockets down the newly made runway. He's 3/4 down the path when he pulls the flight stick back, and the bird takes off into the sky with a roar. After a few seconds, he hits the switches, and the landing gear comes up. For the first time in nearly a month; he takes to the skies...now flying over a new world for the very first time.

Princess Luna is pinned back in her seat while the bird rockets down the runway, the force from the sheer power of the engines crushing her into the chair. Her eyes close tightly, tears trickling out as she screams in terror from never experienceing this kind of take off. As the aircraft takes off and climbs higher and higher, the force upon her body increases. The pressure fades as quickly as it came however, when the aircraft rights itself and the pilot disengages the after burners. Luna quiets down and opens her eyes slowly, then looks around. What she sees leaves her breathless and in wonder. Though she's flown many many times over her lifetime, she's never been in a flying machine before. Nor has she ever been this high in the sky. Below her, ponys look like small dots, and she can see every street and building in perfect detail. She tries to speak again, but her voice is still drowned out by the aircrafts engines.

Talon looks into his small mirror he has in position on the console so he can watch his RIO when needed. He sees Luna move her lips and mouth to talk, but dosent here anything. It's then that he points to the mouth piece on his microphone, showing Luna to find the hedset.

Luna sees his motions, and starts searching in the small space for a device that looks like what he pointed to. After only a moment of searching, she found one, It has two disk shaped things on metal brace, a long adjustable band hooked on the left side, and some kind of square button piece at the end of that; all connected to a spiraled flexable wire. She takes the device into her magic and fidgets with it, setting the disks over her ears and the microphone boom by her mouth. The next thing that occurs surprises her. She hears his voice in her ears.

"This is your colonel speaking, welcome to Navy airways. You're in for a wild ride today so please keep your seat backs and tray tables in their upright and locked position. Oh, and try not to scream." The pilot says sounding as professionally sarcastic as he could. He grins wickedly. Oh and princess, see that yellow handle to your left with the black stripes?"

Luna looks down, confused with his comments and what she's looking for. She spots it and lights her horn, grasping it in her magic. "Yes! I have it! What should I do?!" She says, curious.

"Do NOT pull, push or touch that unless I tell you two, you'll cause us both to eject from the bird." He says flatly over the radio. His eyes are covered under his helmets visor, but his facial expression clearly says he's not kidding.

She lets go right away, and scoots away from the dangerous handle in fear. "Oh-alright!" She says over the comm. "What did you mean by try not to scream by the way?" Luna says looking around, fear welling up in her gut.

"Because, i'm about to do this." He says with a grin, rolling the aircraft into a spiral. He can hear Lunas surprised scream followed by laughter over the radio as he does so, kicking in the afterburners again and bringing the plane into another climb. He banks hard left in the air, doing a barrel roll now over Canterlot.

On the ground ponys watch the display from the strange flying object. As it flys overhead, they hear the sound of the engines roar above them. Some only stand and watch, their mouths agape. Others panic and hide in shops, hopeful the banshee will go away. And some even fall to their flanks and rock back in forth, babbling about Nightmare Moons return. Princess Celestia and the ones watching from the castle however, only look at the display and smile, cheering at the spectical. This is the first time any of them have actually seen the aircraft doing its thing, and are enjoying every second of the show. The look on Celestias muzzle that day was priceless. The look of 'Oh I so have got to try that.'

The fun over from getting to scare the alicorn half to death, then exciting her now past him, he rights the plane and dives slowly, circling over Canterlot in a wide spiral. He keeps the wing pointed at an angle to the ground, so Luna can get a good look of the city below. It's then he hears the question he was hopeing for.

"So how fast can we go?" Luna says jubilent into the radio. She's bouncing in her seat, clopping her forehooves together in joy. "I want to see what this wonderous machine can do!"

He smiles and rights the plane again, leveling off and slowing down his airspeed. "Pick a direction in your nations airspace, and I'll punch it!" He replys.

Luna looks around and sees the everfree forrest way off in the distance. She's always wanted to see Ponyville from above during the day, so why not now? "Straight ahead, all the way to the forrest in the distance!" She speaks into the ill-fitting headset.

Talon throttles up again, activateing the afterburners. The canards retract, bringing the F/A-37 into go fast mode. It rockets forward straight ahead, the computer chiming in. "**Mach. 1...Mach. 2...Mach. 3...Mach. 4..."** The aircraft cuts through the sky, screaming forward as fast as the scramjets would take them.

From the ground Celestia and the ponys watch the aircraft suddenly scream off, a loud boom in its wake. Celestia knows from experience that sound; for she herself has broken the sound barrier many...many times in her lifetime. It's when she hears three more behind it in the distance that she goes wide eyed and shakes her head with surprise. "Oh my..." She blinks, still stareing up to the heavens searching for the aircraft, that now has her sister. She blinks and connects the dots, panic setting in. The aircraft just left. He has Luna. Luna is missing...Oh. Buck.


End file.
